Tottenham Hotspur have come out near the top of a new transfer survey that assesses how good negotiations have been for new signings over the years.
The CIES Football Observatory's statistical model has been used to compare players’ values prior to their transfer and the fees actually paid for them in Europe's five major leagues since 2012. That also allowed CIES to highlight how certain clubs have driven inflation up, with Manchester United heading the rankings. United's total investment for their 33 fee paying transfers during the period was 1.594bn euros (£1.397bn), which was 238m euros (£208m) greater than the estimated value of players concerned.
Juventus, PSG, Aston Villa, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Arsenal, Rennes and Everton come in just behind United for spending more than players' values and the report says that their numbers "confirm their key role in driving up inflation on the transfer market". Deals concluded by triggering buy-out or option-to-buy clauses were not included in the sample analysed.
